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Chen daughter, son admit to perjury

Former president Chen Shui-bian’s daughter, Chen Hsing-yu, struggles during a clash between her bodyguards and reporters as she enters the Taipei District Court yesterday. PHOTO: CNA

Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤) and Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), the daughter and son of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), yesterday admitted in court to giving false testimony about the family’s alleged money laundering.

Chen Hsing-yu has now been barred from leaving the country.

Chen Hsing-yu arrived in court yesterday morning accompanied by an entourage of bodyguards, who used their bodies and props such as hats and umbrellas to prevent the former first daughter from being harrassed by the media.

Bodyguards surrounded Chen Hsing-yu and pushed and shoved against the crowd, which included court bailiffs and photographers, as she entered the courthouse with a pained look on her face.

As people crowded around her, Chen Hsing-yu yelled out in pain when an umbrella accidentally hit her in the face.

Her husband, Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘), entered the courthouse about an hour later and with relative ease. He entered through a side door to avoid reporters and photographers stationed outside the main entrance.

“It is not worthwhile for a young and beautiful lady [like DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen] to cover herself in dung because of this.” — Alex Fai, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator

The three, along with former chairman of the Taipei Financial Center Co, Diana Chen (陳敏薰), were listed as defendants for allegedly committing perjury on June 3. All have declined to comment on the case.

Approached by reporters inside the courthouse in the afternoon, Chen Chih-chung said: “We gave prosecutors a truthful account. We will leave the rest of the questions to our lawyers.”

Prosecutors said Chen Hsing-yu, Chao Chien-ming and Chen Chih-chung admitted they gave false testimony, but prosecutors declined to comment on why they did so or who instructed them to do so.

Chen Chih-chung admitted to giving false testimony twice during questioning by prosecutors, even though he was aware of his right as a direct family member of the defendant to refuse to testify against his parents.

Prosecutors said Chen Chih-chung admitted to perjury because he wanted to negotiate with prosecutors to cancel his indictment.

The Special Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutors Office said Chen Hsing-yu lied when she testified that she did not deliver a check for NT$10 million (US$307,000) under the name of a friend of former first lady Wu Shu-jen’s (吳淑珍) brother, Wu 耶hing-mao (吳景茂), in 2004.

Prosecutors also allege that the trio gave false testimony on their use of receipts to gather NT$104.15 million in reimbursement from the presidential “state affairs fund,” a government fund to be used for official purposes at the president’s discretion.

SIGNATURE DRIVE

In related news, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said it would launch a signature drive asking for Chen Shui-bian’s release.

“The signature drive will start in late June or early July,” DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) told a press conference yesterday, adding that the party was contacting lawyers, academics, politicians and social leaders for assistance with the former president’s court case.

Saying that Chen Shui-bian’s detention was not just a problem for the former president but also highlighted problems within the judicial system, Cheng added that the party considered the establishment of a healthy legal system more important than supporting a single case or individual.

The spokesman said that the party would also offer information about the Chen Shui-bian case to international human rights groups.

The former president has been held at the Taipei Detention Center since Dec. 30 on charges of money laundering, embezzlement and corruption. He was indicted on Dec. 12 and charged with illegally receiving or embezzling NT$490 million. He has repeatedly denied the charges and denounced his trial as political persecution.

The DPP said the Taipei District Court’s extension of Chen Shui-bian’s detention violated his judicial rights. To protect his rights, the party had reached a consensus to come up with a plan to help him.

Cheng said the former president was treated unfairly during the judicial process, saying the judiciary violated a gag order during the investigation by leaking investigation data to the media, and that the Taipei District Court changed judges during the trial.

There were no judicial reasons to detain the former president during the trial, he said.

In response, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday slammed DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) over the plan.

The KMT’s incoming caucus 貞ecretary-茆eneral, Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟), accused Tsai of bowing to corruption.

“Saving Chen means saving corrupt [people]. Is she going to ally herself with corrupt people?” Lu said.

“Chen [Shui-bian’s] case is not about human rights, but about corruption. We should all respect judicial procedure,” Lu said.

KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said Tsai was compromising her principles to secure DPP votes in the year-end city and county chief elections.

“It is not worthwhile for a young and beautiful lady [like Tsai] to ‘cover herself in dung’ because of this,” Fai said.
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